Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²⁶ When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him.^{(A) 27} When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

Nathan Condemns David

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,^(B) 12 ¹ and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.^{(C) 2} The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare and drink from his cup and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” ⁵ Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;^{(D) 6} he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”^(E)

⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;^{(F) 8} I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. ⁹ Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.^{(G) 10} Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.^(H)

¹³ David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.^{(A) 14} Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord,^[a] the child born to you shall die.”^{(B) 15} Then Nathan went to his house.

Bathsheba’s Child Dies

The Lord struck the child whom Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became very ill.^(C)

Psalm 32

The Joy of Forgiveness

Of David. A Maskil.

Jews and Gentiles Are Saved by Faith

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not gentile sinners, ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified^[a] not by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ.^[b] And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ^[c] and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.^{(A) 17} But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ,^{(B) 20} and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,^[d] who loved me and gave himself for me.^{(C) 21} I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness^[e] comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus^[a] to eat with him, and when he went into the Pharisee’s house he reclined to dine.^{(A) 37} And a woman in the city who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸ She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”^{(B) 40} Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” ⁴¹ “A certain moneylender had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.^{(C) 42} When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus^[b] said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴ Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.^{(D) 45} You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.^{(E) 47} Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”^{(F) 49} But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”^(G)

Some Women Accompany Jesus

8 Soon afterward he went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,^{(H) 2} as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,^{(I) 3} and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them^[c] out of their own resources.